Stewboy1978 - in my opinion, you cannot go wrong with the CdS. Plenty of everything for everyone. The three resorts are Fuengirola, Benalmadena and Torremolinos. The three of them run into one another and can be accessed either via train or bus.

Plenty of shops in Fuenge as well as lovely beaches for children; biggest market on CdS on a Tuesday.
Benal has the lovely marina, shops and sea trips.
Torre has again plenty of shops and bars.

It really depends what sort of accomodation you want as to where you would be better to stay. We prefer Benal as its between the two resorts. Have stayed at Los Boliches end of Fuenge and found that OK but never stayed in main town and not stayed in Torre.

I am sure if you trawl through various postings on this site you will come across a lot more detail that will help you. Good luck!!!

The only thing I would say, is that we just got back from Fuengirola, and it was hot!! With a small child, I would recommend not going in July/August as it gets extremley hot, and at that age, she would be exposed to extremley strong rays from the sun. We found June easily hot enough. It was 25-30oC most days, and the evenings were warm and lovely. Even at this time, the rays would be very strong to young skin. It was also a lot cheaper than peak times in July/August! There was still plenty to do and everything was open, and it was still reasonably busy.
The beach is beautiful in Fuengirola, and the water is warm and clear.
We also have been to Benalmadena, and it was gorgeous there too.